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Looking for a last-minute deal on a package vacation to a sunspot? Here are a few tips.

Online or travel agent: Online sites are excellent if you are a confident traveller, don’t mind doing the research and are flexible about where you want to go. Being a research fanatic, I like to check sites online, read reviews and do my own research, but that’s too much trouble for many people. I’ve also dealt with travel agents several times. The prices are similar.

Decide what you want: If you’re on a budget, The Dominican Republic, Cuba and Mexico are the cheapest sun spots. The number of package tours leaving directly from Ottawa has increased dramatically in the last five years so you can usually find something direct. If you want to leave from Montreal, of course, your options expand.

Narrow it down: You may want to restrict your search to 4 star resorts and above, or to certain countries. I am always on the lookout for resorts in the Mexican Riviera, because I love the Mayan culture and the ability to visit charming towns like Playa del Carmen when you get sick of the beach. I only look at resorts with at least four stars, although the star system is flexible (one tour operator’s 3 1/2 star is another’s 4 star for the same resort). More modest resorts may well be great, but travelling with a small child, I wanted to reduce the chance of getting sick from bad water or food.

How to choose a resort: The brochures make them all seem generically wonderful, with pictures of happy people lounging by aqua pools, perfect families splashing in the ocean and charming thatched- hut cocktail bars.

The best way to collect information about resorts is from friends, and friends of friends, who have been there. Just make sure the experiences are recent. We went to one hotel in Cayo Coco, Cuba, that a friend had loved several years before. We arrived to find half the resort closed, the rest under new management that was struggling with basics like keeping the public toilets from overflowing and providing enough food at the buffet. Still, it was fun, and even a sandy beach littered with dead jellyfish turned into an adventure for a six-year-old who delighted in collecting them in a bucket and squishing them with a stick.

If you go south, and think you may head back to that area again, check out the resorts nearby. Wander through them and ask people staying there about their experiences.

Travel agents can also provide helpful advice about properties, of course.

Trip Advisor is your exasperating friend: It’s baffling to read warring reviews of the same resort, which people posting on the popular website call either a hellhole or a tropical heaven. Many of the complaints about southern resorts on Trip Advisor are definitely first-world problems from hyper-critical travellers upset about the small beer mugs or the lack of ketchup that tastes like Heinz from home. But Trip Advisor warnings about widespread illness, security concerns and really bad food can help you rule out some properties.

And you can get a very clear picture of what to expect, thanks to those Trip Advisor scribes who dutifully record every second of their package vacation, from the number of minutes it takes for the bus to trundle to the resort to the length and composition of the roadways leading to the beach. (Probably the rest of their vacation is spent videotaping.) But they often provide useful tips, such as great spots for free snorkelling or advice on which cafe has the best coffee.

Get a handle on prices: If you decide to book online yourself, check online sites for several days, and you’ll quickly get an idea of price ranges for various resorts. The same ones pop up regularly. You should be able to spot a good deal. If you do, don’t delay. Don’t assume the price will keep going down or the property will still be available the next day or the next hour. If you play price chicken, waiting for a property to drop by another 50 or a hundred dollars, it might sell out.

One January, a Mayan Riviera resort that a friend had highly recommended, The Grand Sirenas, popped up online for under $900 a person for a week. I hit the “buy” button immediately. That hotel is in the $2,000 range during March break. And it was fabulous, with good food, a man-made “lazy river” with inner tubes winding through the resort and a large “quiet pool” that was both was large enough for serious exercise, and mercilessly free of the obnoxious loud music and forced hilarity at the main pool.

Travelling with children: Some resorts cater to families, and will advertise that in brochures. If you have very young children, check if there is a wading pool, a shallow beachfront, and a playground. One year, we watched enviously from our hotel in Holguin, Cuba at the resort next door, which had a tiny perfect playground with a slide.

The kids club: Many resorts have “kids clubs,” but they definitely are not all created equal. In eight trips south, I’ve seen kids clubs that ranged from a barren concrete enclosure with not so much as a crayon inside to lively, arts, craft-and-movies filled daycare centres.

Ask a travel agent for details, or check Trip Advisor for reviews, if using a kids’ club is in your plans.

If you like to bicycle: Many resorts advertise bicycles, but don’t expect high-class ten speeds, or child-size bikes. And in gated communities along super highways, such as many of those in the Mexican Riviera, or the strip of hotels along the beach in Varadero, Cuba, there are no quiet roads around hotels for long bike trips. So check out the terrain as well as the availability of bikes. We spent one lovely vacation in Holguin, Cuba, biking along the nearly deserted country roads with a three-year-old. (We brought our own bike seat for her, along with a few bike tools.)

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